(cocksucking is better than ass kissing because when you suck cock, you know when you’re done)

There's probably more than one sauna/steamroom/bathhouse in Hollywood where they (that prop up Hollywood) spend a lunch hour passing around scripts, novels, and scripts-disguised-as-novels by Next Big Things that contain scenes, passages, or maybe a line of dialogue that will cause these sweaty men to arm-wrestle over the right to give these writers money.

The quoted line above deserves all of that, plus a Dewar's on the rocks.

Your book (whatever it's called, whatever it's about) just sold one more copy.

I downloaded Butcher Bird, even though I hate reading real books off of a screen.

It's very good -- it might even be great -- I'll have to get to the end to know. ...And I also think I'll have to buy a copy. I might read a novel once off a screen, but the reread will definitely require paper - - besides you've earned the royalty.

Oh, and I had a similar reaction, though not as strongly, to the Dresden books. I haven't read the first ones, but a later book (it was all the library had, after a friend recommended the series). I did like his dog.

I can't get into RPGs either, though as an artist I wouldn't mind earning a few bucks illustrating for them...

mlpeters: Thanks for grabbing the book. I'm glad you liked the download version. The book version is cleaner and the last quarter is quite rewritten. If you liked one, you might take a look at the other.

I'd buy your Butcher Bird right now, based on the... (checks place on the downloaded version) 10 chapters I've read tonight, but the piggy bank hardly rattles at the moment. I'm liking it more and more though, so...

Finished reading Butcher Bird off my computer screen. I promise to buy a copy - -I want to know what you rewrote in the last quarter. I can't think of anything that needed changing, so my curiosity is piqued. I'll still buy it, even if the only changes were chopping an adverb here, adding an adjective there, for cleaner prose.

Earlier, I said, "It's very good -- it might even be great -- I'll have to get to the end to know."

The verdict is : "Great!" I'm impressed and not being hyperbolic. I mean it.

mlpeters: I changed some small plot points, tweaked them really, but the changes were important to me because the tied up some points of the book. Plus, I went through the whole book and bitch slapped the text, especially the dialogue. As I said, it might not be anything that anyone else will notice among the monsters and sarcasm, but it all felt like something the book needed.

Steerpike: Hope you can make it. It should be a good night. I’ll be reading the first science fiction story I’ve written in years. I can’t make money writing SF, which is one of the reasons I’m mainly writing fantasy these days. That and George Bush who made me go and read up on the history of xtians, God and Lucifer. If anyone hates my recent stuff, write the president a nasty letter, not me.

Warren mentioned on Twitter that he’d received a draft of my new book, Sandman Slim. He’s part of our assault on the more famous and our attempt to TAC weld me to their large coattails. I’m too far away from England to blow Warren personally and my beard is probably too scratchy, so if someone wants to put on their kneepads and get to work in my place, I’d appreciate it.

Here’s Sandman Slim 101.

The book is the first of a new series. It’s my crass attempt to cross urban fantasy with spaghetti westerns and 50s-60s era American crime fiction (think of Richard Stark’s Parker novels or Kubrick’s The Killing), all told in the voice of a snarky LA punk. Your basic revenge story with ritual magic, guns, decapitations, angels, devils, Homeland Security and skinheads. But funny. Funny decapitations.

It’s about a guy named Stark, the LA punk I mentioned earlier. He’s part of a secret subculture of magic humans who call themselves the Sub Rosa. Before the book opens, Stark has been betrayed by some other Sub Rosas and sent to Hell in exchange for power. The book is about Stark crawling out of Hell and back to Earth to kill everybody who betrayed him and anyone who gets in his way. Like I said, it’s a comedy.

It’s also NOT a noir mystery. I wanted to keep away from the Chandler and Hammet-isms of other books. I love both of those writers, but their bones have been picked clean by writers who are better at noir stuff than I am. Besides, the magical detective idea already exists. We don’t need another Harry Dresden because the last time I looked, the old one was still very much alive and doing quite well. Stark is the opposite of Dresden. He’s utterly untrained and not very good at detective work. He’s a punk, a fuck up and a killer. And he learned to kill while in Hell, so he’s not subtle about it.

One more fun fact. I was able to use the lyrics to a Tom Waits song in the book because Waits personally approved it after he saw what I was doing. Whatever else happens with the book, getting a pass from Waits made it worth writing.

If you have any more questions, toss them out there. I might not answer them because I don’t want to put out any spoilers. Also I want you to buy the damned thing, not skim it here, you cheap bastards.